


bury a friend

by perhapssoon



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Angst, Family Dynamics, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, he's not dead he's just sleeping, it's kinda sad but im bad at angst, legends never die ok, non-linear storytelling, orange team is rlly hm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 15:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18122750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perhapssoon/pseuds/perhapssoon
Summary: When the Octarians overcome the Squidbeak Splatoon, and by default, Inkopolis, Aloha makes a mistake that will haunt him for the rest of his life.Or:The rise and fall of Orange Team as seen by Aloha





	bury a friend

**Author's Note:**

> god i listened to bury a friend and panic room on repeat and this was the result shdsafjk i'm disappointed in myself. this fic is written using non-linear storytelling which means that it's confusing and weird

If he’d known better, Aloha wouldn’t have walked into that restaurant. He wouldn’t have sat down at the table, wouldn’t have leaned back in his chair like he always did, wouldn’t have grinned at the inkling across from him with one of his blinding smiles.

He should have pulled everyone in the room out of there, shielded them from the blast, maybe even run up to take it himself. 

But he didn’t. 

He didn’t and cod, he's so damn stupid for taking Army up on this offer, while he knew the curfew was in place.

Because the Octarians are here, and Army isn't, and Aloha's left standing in the middle of a puddle of magenta ink.

He's alone. He always ends up alone. 

—

When he first meets Army, he hates him. It’s one of those first impressions that make the other Inkling seems uptight and a stickler, two things Aloha doesn’t like at all. He keeps his best game face on though, like a mask, which is funny because Mask was the one to introduce the two. Or, if you called being-on-your-phone-long-enough-to-forget-they-were-there-so-they-had-to-introduce-themselves-to-one-another-awkwardly introducing. 

His team is worse, following Army like literal soldiers, rarely smiling and rarely seen without those stupid manuals they all carried. Because why were manuals so important to them? Aloha had gotten this far without any stupid rule book. And so had the others: Skull and Mask and their own respective teams. 

It felt like cheating, that they recorded strategies in their books, recording weapon stats, ranges, predictable moves a person would do. 

Skull didn’t really seem to care about that fact. The only important thing was that Army made it to S+ rank and his team score was in the top five of turf, not counting Aloha, Mask, and himself. 

So now he had to endure this military-styled inking, even if his face paint made Aloha want to throw his Gal at him. 

—

It was a normal date. Just like the others. They picked out a restaurant and went there, like usual. Except Aloha was covered in beads of sweat because what if it went wrong this time? 

Both Scuba and Octoglasses sent him reassuring texts, that he would be fine, that it was just a date like those many others he had went to so many other times. Straw sent him a squid-chat with a picture of her grinning up at him, eyes bright, the text below her face reading  _Chill Alo, it’s just a date! You got this!_

He didn’t have a heart to sent one back telling her that he  _didn’t_ have this. 

It was with Army, was that it? The Inking he has a crush on for months now? Was that why he was nervous?

He knew the real reason, and it made him afraid. 

—

He learned soon enough that Army’s teammates were high strung and they were more rounded than he initially thought. 

Despite the emotionless facades they put up in public, they were loose and casual around their base, and Aloha felt like he was intruding in a place he wasn’t invited, even if they had specifically told him to come over. 

Army was out for the night and for some reason he felt relieved. 

He even managed to actually catch their names in the process, and learned that Forge was the second oldest, followed by her cousin, Sailor Blue, and her girlfriend, Sailor White. Aloha didn't bother to point out that having similar names would make it a shell lot more awkward when Blue was actually related to Forge.

They had hobbies, of course, Forge in bad-decision-making, White and her extremely concerning collection of tasers, and Blue with wherever in Inkopolis he disappeared to every night. Aloha just decided not to question it.

And they were all protective of Army, despite their leader being the oldest out of the four of them, to the point where they would take the hit for him in battle if Army didn't order them not to.

Aloha had witnessed such an event himself, when the enemy team targeted Army with an echolocator (how ironic) and Forge quite literally flung herself in front of her superior, taking the snipe that was meant for the older inkling, while Blue immediately swung his own Splatterscope to the side, taking the offending inkling in one hit.

He was stunned at their willingness to throw themselves into danger for their leader.

Deep down, he was glad for his own team's lack of reliability when it came to defense, but wished for the same closeness as Army's team.

\--

The Octatarians were closing in. The inklings had all heard the news about the Squidbeak Splatoon, as broadcast by DJ Octavio, knew that they had failed, knew that no one would be coming to save them this time.

The Octarians connected the Great Zapfish's power to Octavio's massive DJ booth and Inkopolis slowly started to lose power.

Still, turfing went on like normal, until the spawn points had a malfunction in a few games that caused an inkling to be separated from their left leg, something that had never happened before.

But they continued on, like nothing happened. Skull had ordered the S4 to stop turfing, for valid fear that they would receive an injury much greater than a lost leg.

So Aloha watched as the power was slowly drained from the spawns, to a point where a few inklings actually didn't respawn. Army even sent a fifty-paged appeal to the turfing industry to have them shut it down, and it took at least three protests to actually get the whole process to stop.

Aloha wonders if they'll ever be able to turf again.

\--

The more time he spends around Army, the less he came to hate him. The orange inkling was misunderstood, that's all, and his extreme reliability on his manual relates to his inability to follow through with change.

He had attempted to read the manual himself, but Army's handwriting is so neat and clean and small that he gives up almost immediately. He can't handle neatness. It means organization, and Aloha is not for for organizing.

He's allergic to neatness, and that's the only reason why he hands the manual back to Army without a comment. It's the only reason why he pulls his hand away quickly, not because Army's fingers accidentally brush against his, not because his heart rate spikes dramatically, not because he develops a sudden blush so he has to turn away. Nothing like that.

Army seems oblivious to it all and just looks grateful to have the manual back in his hands, like Aloha risked dirtying it or something. Aloha know he probably wouldn't do anything to it, but it still leaves a pang in his chest at the thought.

He pushes it away.

\--

"You have a crush on Army?" Blue looks nervous, twisting the Splatterscope in his hands, over and over and over. The trigger clicks lightly every few seconds and Aloha expects to see orange ink flow from the barrel, but it never comes.

"You better not break his heart then." Forge leans forward, eyes narrow. Out of the three of them, she's the closest to Army, which explains her second-in-command status. "Army's not great at crushes."

"Wait, he has a crush on me?" Aloha could be wrong of course, and secretly he wants to be. 

The three orange inklings exchange a look, the only sound in the silence is the steady clack clack clack of the Splatterscope being twisted in Blue's hands.

White heaves a sigh and holds Aloha's gaze long enough for the latter to grow uncomfortable. "Yeah. Yeah, he does." Her eyes hold a silent warning, and Aloha scoots as far away from her as he can.

"But don't you tell him we told you," Forge quickly adds, and Aloha nods quickly. He wouldn't dream of it. Not even that now he knows the feelings are reciprocated.

"I won't, I won't," he says, when Forge doesn't look convinced. "I'm not that dumb."

She raises an eyebrow. "Says the person who dances and sings during his turf battles."  
"Hey, I still win."

Blue snorts. "Yeah. Until you basically ran right into the water by accident."

"It was on purpose!"

"Right. On purpose." Blue's lips twitch slightly, though his eyes stay blank, but Aloha has been around him enough to know he's amused.

"Okay, anyway," Aloha huffs and pulls out a pack of Uno cards, Army forgotten. "Who's up for a card game?"

\--

The restaurant was normal enough. It was full of inklings, despite the clear 9pm curfew warning. Still, Aloha was nervous going in, even though Army looked less tense than he usually did.

They got their table, sat down, and right as the waiter asked for their order, the wall behind them exploded.

\--

White ends up winning the card game, and Aloha suspects that Forge had let her win, as she had usually come in first, and by the look Blue gave her, he realized that she might've told her cousin to lay off too.

White looks happy enough though, and leaves the room to go make a snack.

The room is silent and awkward again, the slow click of the Splatterscope's trigger echoing through the place.

Aloha avoids Forge and Blue's gazes, his eyes flicking to the amount of pictures framed on the walls, all of them past achievements or random photos of them doing rather mundane things.

There's a picture of Army, covered head to toe in glitter, his teammates hovering above him, holding party poppers. There's a photo of Forge laughing, head thrown back, mouth wide open, as White playfully offers her a worm wrapped around her finger, kneeling before her in a fake engagement. There's a picture of Blue pulling a block out of a tower of Jenga, eyebrows knitted together, tongue sticking out in concentration as Forge practically is on top of him, waiting for him to mess up. There's a picture of them when they first received their S+ assignment, all of them grinning, even Army, their manuals surprisingly nowhere in sight.

Aloha holds back a smile. His own base has photos like these, but none of them hold the same charm. Despite the clear tension in the room, he feels like laughing, sobering only when he looks back over at Forge, who's staring at her phone with an air of anti-sociality and Blue who's gripping his charger so tightly, his knuckles are turning white.

\--

"You met Army, right?" Skull's stare bores into Aloha's head and the pink inkling looks away.

"Yeah."  
"Good. Don't give him any of your usual tricks, alright?"

"...Yeah."

\--

Army looks scared and Aloha wants to protect him, protect him like how the orange team protected their leader all those times before.

But he's terrified and frozen in his seat as an Octarian trains one beady eye on him.

\--

He's dressed in all black, changing his tentacle colors to a light grey to match the mood. It's raining, so there are billions of black umbrellas stretching around him. He feels his stomach drop when he sees the coffin.

\--

"Treat him well, alright?" Forge's words are low and quiet in his ear, and Aloha swallows thickly.

"I will."

Her voice is fierce, but bordering on tears as she pulls away. "Promise me."

\--

He feels his heart break into little pieces as Army lunges forward, taking the hit, like to justify for all those times his own teammates shielded him.

He watches as Army explodes into a puddle of magenta ink, and it's enough to send him running out the back door.

\--

Aloha wants to cry. He wants to, yet he can't. Army's death was still his fault in a way. But the remaining members of orange team are staring at him, tears in their own eyes and he wants to help them.

He can't cry here.

"He protected me," he says finally, voice wobbly. "He took the hit. I couldn't-- I should've--"

White shakes her head, hat flopping slightly. "It wasn't your fault. You didn't know any better."

\--

He knew that curfew was 9:00, he knew they were breaking rules that they could die from. No one would stand up to the Octarians for this.

But he agreed to the date, seeing that happy glow in Army's eyes, and resolve grows in his chest, one that makes him walk out the front door, with his teammates apprehensively cheering him on.

\--

Aloha wonder briefly if this is a dream, watching the Octarian storm into the restaurant, splatting everyone in sight. He wonders if he'll die.

\--

White hurls herself forward, sobbing, Forge following her quickly to keep her under their massive black umbrella. The younger collapses on the end of the coffin, tentacles spilling from under her arms as she presses her forehead to the cool wood. Her cries are the only noise here, other than the rain.

"Why did you have to leave?"

Forge kneels besides her, placing a hand on her shoulders, rubbing gentle circles. Blue follows behind them, taking the umbrella from Forge to shield all three of them from the rain, his expression unreadable.

"Why did you have to go?"

\--

The Splatterscope shatters in Blue's hands and the resulting mess of orange ink and bits of metal and plastic gives Aloha a few minutes of respite as they all scramble to help clean up.

\--

"I promise."

\--

**Author's Note:**

> see if you can figure out the story :)
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated!! <3


End file.
